Are Radio Engineers Learning Any Lessons Based on the Old Technology?

 

 

 

Addressing Wayne's displeasure with his C.Crane EP Radio, Paul writes:

From the few reviews so far it appears that this radio underperforms with respect to the GE Superadio I and II, the Sony ICF-S5W, and probably a few other vintage radios, perhaps the Panasonic RF-2200 and Sony ICF-5900.

What I don't understand is this: reverse engineering the circuitry of these older radios should be absolutely trivial, and very far from rocket science. We have full service manuals for these radios with all the details! Why is it that all the lessons learned and gained in these earlier designs are apparently forgotten or ignored by our engineers now?

Comments

[Doug T.]

Brandon writes: "Not only that, but if most of the hobbyists out there are like me, there's just something about buying a vintage radio and giving it a little TLC to get it looking and working like new. You don't get that experience from buying a new one."

I know a several hobbyists like Brandon, but for myself, I prefer to buy new radios. I don't have a problem opening up my radios and maintaining them, but I've never really developed the "restoration" bug. I really enjoy seeing how developments in the lab (digital signal processing or software defined radio) get filtered into commodity radios.

I wonder what fraction of radio enthusiasts are also interested in restoration.